They write with “deep concern over a series of politically motivated and legally questionable actions” by the Trump administration. Those include unlawful terminations of hundreds of employees, grant review that was “covert and ideologically driven,” termination of existing research awards without any transparency or real justification, withholding of appropriated funds, and more. It also specifically mentions the unceremonious eviction of NSF from its Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters, to, for some reason, let the Department of Housing and Urban Development move in. Taken together, the actions “collectively amount to the systemic dismantling of a world-renowned scientific agency.”
The employees — 48 who signed their names, though redacted in the publicly available letter except for union president Jesus Soriano, and 101 who signed anonymously — called for whistleblower protections and for the Committee to end illegal impoundments of funding, defend the agency from “further interference in its peer review process,” clarify internal employment practices from OMB, DOGE, and NSF leadership, and reaffirm the agency’s overall scientific independence.
“NSF employees are committed to serving the American people through research, education, and innovation,” the letter reads. “But they cannot do so under fear, censorship, and institutional sabotage. Without immediate oversight and corrective action from Congress, one of our nation’s greatest engines for scientific and...
A growing body of research tracking the spread of misinformation online has largely focused on presumably false stories from unreliable sources—websites that fabricate content or intentionally mis...